The Bourne Legacy Trailer is Here!

If you thought that new trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man was going to be the only new trailer that you’d see during the week after the Super Bowl, think again: the first official teaser trailer for The Bourne Legacy hit the web on Wednesday, and boy, is it good. I wouldn’t say it’s as good as the most recent Spidey trailer, but it’s still very well put together.

We know fairly little about The Bourne Legacyas of yet. It stars Jeremy Renner, not as Jason Bourne but as a new Treadstone “outcome” agent, Aaron Cross. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, Jeremy Renner is the kind of guy that needs an action franchise. He was superb in The Hurt Locker, and many say he should fill Tom Cruise’s shoes in future Mission: Impossible flicks. Check out the first official Bourne trailer below, and read on for a bit of analysis as well as a look at the poster for the new film.
The Bourne Legacy — Teaser
Starring alongside Jeremy Renner is Edward Norton (American History X, Fight Club), who appears to play some sort of operative antagonist role. Interestingly, Renner will play Hawkeye in the upcoming Avengers film from Marvel, while Norton play The Hulk in Marvel’s 2008 effort, The Incredible Hulk. But that’s neither here nor there. We’re here to discuss The Bourne Legacy.

The film follows outcome agent Aaron Cross, a man trained similar to Jason Bourne but one that may be even more dangerous and unyielding. While many people were initially upset to hear that Matt Damon would not be reprising his role as Jason Bourne in this film, I think that they will be pleasantly surprised by how well Renner fills his shoes as the new star of the franchise.

Aside from the casting, I have to say that the way that this trailer opens was extremely well done. With bars fading away and revealing bits and pieces of video (similar to the poster below), it gives the film that crime thriller feel, which proves to be an asset lately, especially when the film holds up as such. With this effect, we get the feeling that we are slowly chipping away at figuring out who this person is, what are his motives, what’s his goal, etc. It lends a very nice touch to the trailer, overall.

Official poster for 'The Bourne Legacy'

We see what looks to be the beginning of Cross’s journey, talking to agents after some sort of brutal, savage beating in which he is left battered and bruised. The real excitement in the trailer begins when we finally see the reveal of Renner as agent Aaron Cross. At that point, his transformation is complete, and if the trailer is to be believed, action — and lots of it — ensue, hopefully taking us on an exciting, wild ride.

We aren’t given to much on story at this point, but I will assume it generally follows the novel The Bourne Legacy, which it is adapted from (of course, with the exception of Jason Bourne’s involvement), as well as drawing a bit from the 3 earlier films and their accompanying sources. I have unfortunately never really read the Bourne books, save for the first one back in 8th grade, but I hope to do so soon, starting with the original 3 Ludlum-penned novels.

The film also stars Rachel Weisz (Definitely Maybe), Joan Allen (reprising her role from the previous films), and Stacy Keach (American History X).

Do yourself a favor and watch for this one when it hits theaters on August 3rd, as it looks like it’s going to be one mighty entertaining thrill ride with Jeremy Renner in the driver’s seat.